Texas Lt. Gov. calls Dallas protesters 'hypocrites'

The protesters who ran away from the scene of the mass shooting in Dallas on Thursday expecting police protection were "hypocrites," Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday.

Patrick, speaking to Fox News Channel's "Outnumbered," cast blame on everyone from Jesse Jackson to past Black Lives Matter protests to "too many in the general public" with a "big mouth" for stirring up an atmosphere of discontent.

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"All those protesters last night, they ran the other way, expecting the men and women in blue to turn around and protect them. What hypocrites," Patrick said, speaking of those dispersing from the peaceful protest following the deaths of two black men earlier this week at the hands of police in Louisiana and Minnesota.

While acknowledging that he understands and defends the First Amendment, as well as freedom of speech, Patrick suggested there are limits when it comes to expressing sentiments hostile to law enforcement.

"It is in our Constitution, it is in our soul but you can't go out on social media and mainstream media and everywhere else and say that the police are racist, that the police are hateful or police are killers," Patrick commented, going on to say that police officers are "really the only people that have a job description that every day when they go to work, part of their duty says, if I have to give my life today, for a stranger that I don't know, who is another citizen, whether they're for me or against me I will. And that’s what we saw last night."

Patrick continued, "I don't do that. You don't do that. The president, no one goes to work in this country with part of their job responsibility saying I will die for someone I don't know because that’s my duty. We have to have their back. And I'm sick and tired of those who are protesting our police and putting their lives in danger. Where there’s wrong there’s wrong, and it has to be addressed but this has got to stop and needs to stop now."

"Many of them never never had a chance, never knew what hit them," Patrick said, describing the dozen officers shot and the five killed. "Shot in the back, and I do blame people on social media, with their hatred towards police. I do blame, I saw Jesse Jackson, I think it was on Fox the other night calling police racists without any facts. I do blame, former Black Lives Matters protests. Last night was peaceful. Others have not been. And we’ve heard pigs in the blanket. This has to stop ... These are real people."

Remarking that there are only a "precious few thousand" officers in every city who protect millions, Patrick warned that "we're not going to have them much longer."

"Spouses of husbands and wives or parents of sons and daughters are going to say, you can't do this as a career. Or men and women who serve, black, brown, white, Asian, all reflecting our community, are going to say I have a family I will protect. All of these officers, it had been said last night lost their life protecting people who were protesting against them," Patrick said. "This has to end."

"I grew up in a world, I've been around long enough, that we’ve always had bad people, we’ve always had dangerous people but the general public respected the police," Patrick continued. "Too many in the general public, who aren't criminals but have a big mouth are creating situations like we saw last night. This was obviously organized weeks ago because as some someone said earlier this rally, or this protest wasn't arranged until about this time yesterday morning. So this was going to happen at some point. These men were going to use a trigger moment. But let's not forget these people. They left behind children and wives and husbands. This is a, this is a tragedy not just for Dallas and not just for Texas but for America. And we have to have the backs of law enforcement. They have to know, from the general public that we will not tolerate when people threaten to kill them."